Something Rhymes with Purple - Saddle-goose

Episode Date: March 29, 2022

Recorded in front of a live audience at London’s Cadogan Hall we’re talking all things April Fools. Expect pranks aplenty as Susie and Gyles put a whoopee cushion under the jesters and hoaxters of times gone by, unpick the foolish history of Little Witham, and are unasinous in their pursuit of the perfect saddle-goose.  A Somethin’ Else production  We love answering your wordy questions on the show so please do keep sending them into [e-mail]  To buy SRWP mugs and more head to.... https://kontraband.shop/collections/something-rhymes-with-purple  If you would like to sign up to Apple Subs please follow this link https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/something-rhymes-with-purple/id1456772823 and make sure that you are running the most up-to-date IOS on your computer/device otherwise it won’t work. Susie’s trio: Clinchpoop – a person lacking in gentlemanly breeding Fimble-famble – a lame excuse Meldrop – a drop of mucus hanging from the nose Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Something else. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple, live from London much for joining us. This episode goes out for the first time on Tuesday the 29th of March. That's three days before the famous April Fool's Day, Giles. So we thought we'd spend this episode exploring the colourful language of fools and jokers and hoaxes well that's what we're gonna do yeah until the chair that Suzy is sitting in explodes which is a little joke that I've set up or not as the case may be how are you with April Fool's Day because obviously it is a day for pranksters have you always been one of those or do you just ignore it I love April Fool's Day? Because obviously it's a day for pranksters. Have you always been one of those, or do you just ignore it? I love April Fool's Day. I love the idea.

I mean, there is a famous Chinese saying, there is no pleasure so great as seeing a good friend fall off the roof. I was going to say harmless pranks, but clearly that does not fall into that category. So I like a practical joke, and we'll but clearly that does not fall into that category. I like a practical joke, and we'll be sharing some with you as we talk on. I mean, are you going to be able to begin by telling me the origin? Why is it called April, Fool? And where does the word Fool come from, for a start? Okay, well, Fool simply goes back to the Latin follis, F-O-L-L-I-S,

which actually meant a windbag. F-O-L-L-I-S, which actually meant a windbag. So somebody who... LAUGHTER Somebody who loved to bloviate, you know, just blow... LAUGHTER I'm taking pills for it now. Yes, a blower of hot air. A bloviator. A bloviator.

So, yes, that was the idea. So it was a fool who just basically spoke rubbish. I'm not looking at you for that. So that's where fool comes from. Felly, ie, dyna'r syniad. Felly, roedd y ffwrdd sy'n dweud y gwirioneddol, yn siarad o'r llwyr. Dwi ddim yn edrych aroch am hynny. Felly dyna'r ffwrdd sy'n dod o'i ffwrdd. Fel ar gyfer Dydd Ffwrdd Apriol, nid ydym yn sicr. Rydym yn gwybod, yn ystod y ddyddion Roedd yna ffestiwl enw'r Hilaria, ac roedd Hilaris wedi golygu rhywbeth sy'n dweud llwyr. Ac ar ddiweddau fel hyn, doedd unrhyw un yn cael ei fod yn ddiddorol. Dwi ddim yn siŵr sut And on such days, nobody was allowed to be glum. I mean, I'm not sure how they policed this. But everybody had to be smiley, cheerful, not say a bad word about anybody else.

I mean, that would be quite a positive day on social media if we said that. That's a lovely idea. It is, isn't it? And I think it would work in the country. I've found, though, if you go around in London smiling at people, you get arrested. Yeah. People find it a bit disconcerting.

Well, that is probably true. Hillary, mae hynny'n debyg. Hilary, fel y enw Hilary. Ie. Fel y enw Hilarious. Mae'r holl un yn un ffordd. Ie. Cynhyrchu'n i am yr un ffordd hwnnw. Dweud eto. Mae'r enw Hilarious yn y pen draw, yn y bôn, oedd yn unigol o ddiddordeb neu llyfn neu llyfn. Felly ar y ffestiwl Hilaria,, which I think were offered up to the gods of fertility, for example, because this is springtime, they would have masquerades,

they would have all sorts of games that maybe, from those days in March, April the 1st took over that role of somewhere where we play jests and jokes, etc. As I recall, the rules of April Fool are that you set up the prank and then when the prank has

been performed you say april fool to the victim and you could only do it up until 12 noon yeah april fool's day and after that you become the fool right i think so the roles are reversed my father was a really he loved an april fool some of the iran rose some of them weren't really he did them all year round he used to have a glass called the dribble glass. It was a wine glass that matched all the other wine glasses that had little cuts in it. It was crystal. And when my sister's boyfriends came round,

he would test them by giving them this dribble glass and pouring in the wine. Oh, no. It would all come out. Yes, it would dribble down the front. And my father would just laugh at them. None of my sisters, of course all come out. Yes, it would dribble down the front. And my father would just laugh at them. None of my sisters, of course, got married. That's not true.

They were all very happy with their eventual partners. They all passed the test. But his father had a little device, like a pad and a tube, and the pad would blow up. And he would put this pad under a plate at the dinner table, under the tablecloth. And so when someone came to dinner, he could rock their plate by pressing a bulb at one end,

and it would make the plate go up. And so people were having soup, and the soup would spill. Yes. Well, this is beginning to form a picture here, I think. That's my family. Let me just say that before we had April Fools in Scotland, they had Hunty Gowk Day. Rydw i'n dechrau ffurfio llun yma. Felly, dyna fy nheulu. Gadewch i mi ddweud, cyn i ni gael Cymru, yn Sgolniaid, roedd ganddyn nhw ddiwrnod gawc. Ac mae gawc yn y Sgolion yn cwcw, neu berson ffugl. Felly, roedd yna ddyn o'r enw Hunt the Gawk.

Ac roedd yn ystod y plan traddodiadol. Felly, mae rhywun, y llyfn, yn cael ei ofyn i ddarparu llythyr. okay and it was a traditional plank so somebody the victim is asked to deliver a letter and unbeknownst to them the letter which when they deliver it this is what the recipient reads dinny laugh dinny smile hunt the gawk another mile um and the victim does not know this so the victim is then instructed to go to another person with the same letter and so it goes on and on it sounds very complicated but apparently it was fun. So that's Hunter Gauk Day and in France, do you know what it's called in France, April Fool's Day? I do know because I spent a lot of time and I went to the Lycée Francais de Londres, not far from here in South Kent, where incidentally I met General de Gaulle who was the President of France at the time.

And I don't think he knew he was meeting me, but I was there, lined up. And he arrived. He had an enormous bidon. A bidon? A bidon. It means a stomach and a huge nose. And interestingly enough, I remember him being in uniform.

But I've seen the photographs of the day and he wasn't in uniform. And he came to the school. And where we would call, April Fools''s Day Poisson d'Avril. Yeah. Why is it called April Fish? What is the origin of that name? I'm not sure we entirely know. I just know that there are quite a few pranks on Poisson d'Avril

where a sort of fish is tied to someone's back, unbeknownst to them. And then if the newspapers run these ridiculous stories as our press often does on April Fool's Day there's usually some kind of fish clue in there to let you know that it's all made up why a fish I don't know I should know but I don't and I'm not sure anyone does I like the idea of of the gesture as a character too I mean Shakespeare's plays are are full of gestures yeah lumbered now with jokes that after 400 years are not as funny as we hope fel cwestiwn, fel cwestiwn hefyd. Mae'r ddiddordeb yn Shakespeare yn llawn o ddiddordebau. Mae'n llwyr nawr, gyda ddiddordebau sydd, ar ôl 400 o flynyddoedd, ddim yn hynod o ddiddordeb fel y gobeithio eu bod nhw o'r ddechrau.

Ond mae cwestiwn fel Ffesty, Touchstone, ac yn y costiwn, y costiwn y ddiddordebau traddodiol. O ble mae'r gwrthym yw gest? Y gest yw eithaf ddiddorol, oherwydd oedd gest yn rhywbeth ddiddorol iawn, felly roedd yn rhyw fath o ddiddordeb. Nid oedd yn ddiddorol iawn, oherwydd roedd gest yn rhywbeth sy'n bwysig iawn, felly roedd yn ymdrin. Nid oedd yn sgwyl o gwbl. Felly mae'n mynd yn ôl i'r gwestiwn gesta'r Laetha, sy'n golygu gweithgaredd, a oedd yn gwestiwn, wrth gwrs, a oedd yn gwestiwn. O'i gweithredu, roedd yn naratif o ddeddfion gwych, ond oherwydd roedd yn aml yn ddiddorol iawn,

mae llawer o ddodd i'r ddynion yn yno, Giles. Roedd yn dod o ran stori ddiddorol... ...a'r oedd rhywun yn ei ddod o'r blaen. Roedd yn dod o ran sgwrs, ond yn amlwg ar ddibynion. Mae hogse yn dda iawn. Mae'n cysylltu â hanky-panky. Mae hanky-panky yn rhywbeth arbennig iawn i ni. Mae'n rhywbeth fel rumpi-panky for us means something very specific, doesn't it, really? It's a bit like rumpy-pumpy or, you know, that kind of thing. Don't you think?

Totally. I know exactly what hanky-panky means, as do quite a few of the people here, from what we know. Hanky-panky. What's the origin of hanky-panky? It's kind of sexual indiscretions, really, isn't it? Why is it called hanky-panky? Well, we think it's probably an alteration of hocus-pocus,

believe it or not. So hocus pocus, obviously said by conjurers as they do their tricks, like abracadabra, etc. But that in turn is probably based on a pseudo Latin phrase, which is hax pax deus adimax. Say it again. Hax pax deus adimax. And that was used as a kind of pretend, as I say, pseudo-magic formula, if you like. And it was that that probably gave us hocus-pocus, hanky-panky, and hoax. Very good.

Why did hanky-panky come to mean a bit of hanky-panky? I mean, given hocus-pocus clearly is a bit of nonsense or a bit of magic. Well, it was trickery and then dishonest behaviour, I guess, was the idea, and then sexual indiscretions. I bet it was something like all those euphemisms in Private Eye. Isn't it sort of having Ugandan relations or something? Do you remember that? I do remember that.

I don't remember having Ugandan relations, but I do remember the phrase as a euphemism. But I think hanky-panky goes back before then, doesn't it? Hanky-panky itself is the 1830s. They're not that far back 1830s, okay. Yeah, so a hoax is from hocus-pocus. That's what we think very good Hoaxer prankster. What's a prankster prankster? We don't know where prank comes from But originally it meant a wicked deed so it was much much stronger than it is now So a prank was something really serious yes it's undergone what linguists very romantically call semantic bleaching um and otherwise it's become a bit diluted over time but it was really

quite strong how come you can get to the root of some words but not others um because we're detectives and we don't always find the right clues and they get lost in time. And actually, you'd think that the older a word is, the more difficult it becomes. But actually, I find the older a word is, the easier it is because the printed records are fewer and you kind of have a narrower base with which to work.

Whereas if you're looking for a modern slang term and you're looking for the modern slang term and you're looking for the etymology of it where do you start because it could have been on a tweet it could have been it could have literally come from anywhere because a word these days can be across the world in what two seconds um so it's really hard to get to the bottom particularly of slang because that's the fastest moving language in the world and it's very slippery when it comes to its yn enwedig o ddiddordeb, oherwydd dyna'r iaith sy'n symud yn fwy cyflym yn y byd, ac mae'n ddiddordeb iawn pan fydd yn ymwneud â'i etimoleg. Ond pranc, mae'n ddyniaeth mor ddifrifol. Ie.

Beth yw'r pranc mwyaf? Ie. Ie. Ie. Beth yw'r pranc mwyaf? Beth yw'r pranc mwyaf? Felly, 1529 yw'r un record cyntaf. Mae'r tro cyntaf yn ddiddordeb, ymdrin, ymgyrchol, yn ymwneud â'r ddiddordeb,

ac yna, nid yn hir, yn y diwedd 16eg, ymgyrch o'r magig neu'r ffit. 1576, y sgwrs ymarferol, ym mhryd. A chymryd 1692, roedd yn gweithrediad anirradig neu'n gweithrediad sylweddol o ddynion anhygoel. O, rydych chi'n gwybod pan... Mae'n ymwneud â rhywbeth i mi. Rydych chi'n gwybod pan fyddwch chi'n bwysio rhan o'r tost a'i Oh, you know when, it reminds me of something, you know when you are buttering a piece of toast and it falls on the floor and the butter is always the bit on the floor, you know, it's always butter side down. Or when a table bumps into you, for example,

if you're walking around, you know, that sort of, the revenge of inanimate objects is called resistentialism. Resistentialism. Yeah. So if you're really, really angry, and I tweeted just about, we've mentioned this in our episode on swearing, but lalocasia, which is the release of stress

and frustration and pain and anxiety through swearing, that for me is completely linked with resistentialism because when something does bump into you like that, you might have a bit of lalocasia going on. If we were time travellers and could go back 500 years to 1600, do you think we would understand the English being spoken by people in London? That's a really good point, yes. But at that stage, and a little bit later on as well,

you had lots of pronunciation shifts where sound and spelling completely divorced. Oh, explain. Give us an example. ac ychydig ychydig ymlaen hefyd, roedd gennych chi llawer o newidiadau ymdrinio lle mae sain a chyflawni yn gwbl yn gwbl wedi'i ffwrdd. Felly... O, ysgrifennwch, rhoi'n enghraifft. Iawn. Felly, er enghraifft, yn y Rhenesans, byddai'r gair B yn creu i mewn i geiriau fel ddewr neu ddwylo neu'r gair P yn dod i mewn i ymgyrch neu'r L yn ymgyrch. Felly, ysgrifennwch sylweddol yn ymddangos ac mae hyn ynherwydd bod sgrifnau'r Rhenesans or the L in salmon. So silent letters suddenly appeared and this is because Renaissance scribes wanted to show off their Latin essentially and they wanted to restore what they thought was the classicism, the classical beauty to English.

Oh, so receipt would have been written R-E-C-E-T, is it? Something like that. So doubt was D-O-U-T. They put a P in to make it to show that they knew where it came from. Receptor and doubt comes from dubitum, which is why we have indubitably.

So they took the old English doubt d-o-w-t and d-o-u-t and thought well we're just going to put a b in there but we won't pronounce it. So that's what we did and we did that with salmon and we did that with plumber which didn't have a b until they came along and said oh but the latin for a lead pipe is plumbum so we're going to put that in there as well, because the Romans were dealing in lead pipes for sanitation, etc. So they sometimes got it wrong, so they put an S in island, thinking it came from the Latin insula,

when in fact it didn't. It was from the Vikings, Eagland. So really we should be talking about Britain being a lovely Eagland, not an island. But we must reform the language. We must... No, today is the day we launch the campaign. That S has been there under false circumstances in island. No, but this is what makes English so beautiful.

I always tell you about that H in ghost, which is a complete hiccup. And I always tell the story... The H, remind me about the H in ghost. Sorry if you've heard this from me so many times. It's one of my favourites. So the H in ghost goes back to a Fmish typesetter who was employed by william caxton who of course brought the printing breasts to um england and did so much to standardize english spelling which was so chaotic before then that shakespeare spelled his own name differently twice on the same document which was his will so that's how chaotic it was and caxton came along he'd yn y cyfrif ar yr un adroddiad, a oedd ei fwyl. Felly dyna sut oedd yn chaos. Ac fe ddodd Caxton

ymlaen, fe wnaeth ei ddysgu ei ffrindiau yng Ngent wedi'u llwyddo mewn H i'n gwrthdynol. Roeddwn i'n meddwl, mae hynny'n edrych yn well. Ac roedd hynna'n un person, un set o arwain, ac nid yn unig yw hynny'n cael effaith gwrthdynol, felly Gastli, oedd hi ddim yn gael un H, a Gast, hefyd. Ie, o un person. Dyna pam rwy'n caru'r holl hyn. Mae'n wych, ydy'n dda. Rydych chi'n s I know Shakespeare reasonably well. I love Shakespeare. He met him, actually. In my dreams, certainly. But I wonder if I did meet him,

whether I'd be able to understand a word he said. When I go to the plays, even now, it takes me the first 20 minutes of being in the theatre, listening to get my ear attuned to it. That's what it is, it's immersion. You'd be okay. Same with Chaucer, actually. Yeah, that's what it is, it's immersion, you'd be okay, same with Chaucer actually. Ah, so immersed in it at the time, you'd think I'd even understand, I mean at school I had a wonderful teacher called Mr Gardner who read to us from Chaucer and Chaucer

was really difficult on the page but when he read it, it was so amusing, it was so alive and we understood from the way he was reading it what it was about. So that's what you're saying to me, that, as it were, the telling of the story. Yeah. It is all about immersion, and as you say, getting your ear for it. Okay.

Let's go back to... So you've given us several words. You've given us hoaxer and prankster. If by any chance you do know what prankster is, and lexicographers for hundreds of years haven't found the origin, if you are tuning in and you think you do know what prankster is, lexicographers for hundreds of years haven't found the origin, if you are tuning in and you think you do know, please get in touch with us.

It's purple at somethingelse.com. The Fool. Tell us a bit about The Fool as a character. Well, The Fool as a character, I mean, yes, you've got so much history there. You've got The Fool in Shakespeare, who was always the soothsayer, really, if you think about King Lear, who was the only one who dared to tell the truth. Mae gennych chi llawer o hanes yno. Mae gennych chi'r ffwrdd yn Shakespeare, a oedd yn ysgwrsio'n dda, os ydych chi'n meddwl am King Lear, a oedd yn unig arall sy'n darparu i ddweud y gwir. Ond mae'n ddiddorol iawn. Rwy'n dweud bod y ddicsiwneri yn gwneud ymddygiadau yn dda iawn ac yn cymhleth yn dda iawn,

oherwydd mae hynny'n ein cyflawni. Yn anffodus, nid ydym yn dda iawn yn cymhleth, ond yn dda iawnda iawn at ddysgu pobl eraill. Ac os edrychwch ar un o'r pethau mae'r OED yn ei gael, mae thesaurus hanesyddol. Felly, os edrychwch ar ffwrdd yn y OED, byddaf yn clicio ar thesaurus ac fe fyddwn i'n llythyr yn cael llinell, chronoleg o synonymiadau ar gyfer ffwrdd o'r gair go. Felly, fe wnes i ddewis rhai i chi, iawn? Iawn. Mae'n un o fy ffurfiad, oherwydd e all neu na ddisgrifio rhai pobl sy'n mynd i fyny for you okay good this is one of my favorite because it may or may not describe some people heading up the country and I have to be careful because Charles was a Tory MP no longer but you were one I was politically we're quite different I was I was a member of parliament until the people spoke the book the bastards so this is one that I just think I mean it can actually sum up

anybody you would choose to I'm just treading very carefully here okay I'm just gonna go for it new NASA Ness you NASA Nous is a riff on unanimous, and unacinous means united in stupidity. Oh. And is that invented? Well, obviously, all words in a sentence. Invented, but quite a long time ago. So, yeah, about two centuries ago. So, as I say, it was a... Unacinous. U-N-A-S-I-N-O-U-S. Yeah.

And it's deliberately formed. One ass. Oh, I see. Unacinous. So, united in stupidity. Yeah, so unanimous means one mind, one spirit, and unacinous means one ass. Oh, I see. Yeah. Un-assiness. Yeah. So, united in stupidity. Yeah. So, unanimous means one mind, one spirit, and un-assiness means one ass. Yeah. Yeah.

Not one ass, one ass. Well, actually, what I found, both when I was an MP and subsequently, is if you ever ask people about their own individual member of parliament, they say, oh, well, he or she or her is not too bad. I met them. They're okay. It's only people when they're talking in the generality of politicians. That's so true, that's very true.

They hurl abuse casually their way. It's the collective nouns, isn't it? My experience was actually people in all parties, actually, that are good people. And I was particularly touched when I stood for the first time that the monster-raving loony party withdrew their candidate and said, if you wanted to vote for them, vote for Giles. Which is rather nice, which may explain the small majority that I had.

So, eunacinous. Eunacinous, yes, and you're absolutely right. But then the dictionary also has so many political epithets for... Well, epithets for individual politicians, too. So, yeah, it's strange, isn't it? We've obviously always slightly mistrusted those in charge. Anyway, a saddle goose is another word. Saddle goose, I like that one. Yeah, saddle goose. That's from the 14th century, and it's just listed in the thesauras for

fool, but I can only imagine it's because have you ever tried to saddle a goose? And if you have, you're a fool. Oh, I see, trying to put a saddle on a goose and ride around on a goose. Yes. That's funny. A saddle, you saddle goose. A saddle goose. And then there's little, and I don't know how to pronounce this.

Little, it's either whitem, but it's not spelled with a Y, or withem. So it's W-I-T-H-A-M. Might be whitem, actually. But in the 1500s, a little whitem was a synonym for a fool because apparently it was a village where the inhabitants were well known for their stupidity. What would our modern equivalent be, do you reckon? Normal for Norfolk. Oh.

No, but people do say that sort of thing, don't they? They do, yeah. I mean, exactly. Very cruel. It is, it's cruel, it's hostile, it's like you talking about politicians. It's a kind of stupid generalisation. I do apologise, but sometimes...

So Little Witham is a real place? Yes, it was a real... Oh, there probably is a stiller, but shall I look it up? It says Essex, but there's no Little Witham that I can find now, so maybe it was... I don't know. Okay, so Little Witham is a fool. Give me some more. Little Witham was a fool, and then you've also got poltroon oh poltroon yes now that's interesting actually because you know the word poltergeist yeah obviously you know the word so to polter or polten in german is to go around making a very very big noise so i think there will be if you look far back enough a poltroon yn gysylltiedig â'r syniad o ffwrddio o gwmpas a bod yn eithaf sgwm. Felly mae hyn yn ddiddorol. Rwy'n edrych

ar y Gweinidog o ran y poltroon. Mae llawer o ddewrion gwahanol. Mae'n mynd yn ôl i'r Ffrenc, a'r poltroon, sy'n golygu'r cyfnod oeddol, oherwydd roedd ymddiriedaeth pobl, neu roedd ymddiriedaeth pobl yn ei gael, yn mynd yn ôl i ddweud y llyfr popular belief or popular etymology had it that it goes back to a Latin phrase being maimed in the thumb which people would do to themselves in order to shirk military service it's not weird so if you were foolish enough to do that justice but anyway that is probably a focus homology and then another one is that goes back to the idea of being a young chicken but there's that sense of cowardice behind but But this is intriguing.

This often occurs, what you call a false etymology, a kind of false history that's come along, but people think that must be the origin. So nobody quite knows with poltroon, but it could possibly be to do with a chicken? Possibly to do with a chicken, possibly to do with a truncated thumb, and possibly a link to the poltergeist.

As in the poltergeist. Poltergeist, yeah. None of which do we firmly know. No. Oh, no, and that is the case with so many words, actually, where there are lots of competing theories and we're still weighing up the evidence, you know. It's fascinating. It's a great gig.

Give me some more. Well, you've got the dizzard from the 1600s. Who? The dizzard. The dizzard? Yes, that's simply somebody who's a bit dizzy and giddy. Giddy?

Do you remember giddy? I think I remember telling you where giddy comes from. The challenge is remembering these things. Where does giddy come from? No, but it is. That's why I often say to Susie,

please repeat the word. And I try to use the words in conversation later in the day and actually write them down because otherwise, they're just in one ear out the other so giddy was someone who was thought to be possessed by a god so they were kind of goddy if you like so they were thought to be so fanatical that they were possessed by some demon

and does giddy relate to dizzy as well um no so dizzy i think was again born for its sound and you'll find similar ones or what we call cognates in lots and lots of different languages. The do's and the dit's and the, you know, the idea of the kind of, if you imagine a cartoon character you would just get those little kind of curly lines coming out of your head. What about… And there's the plonker. Plonker?

Yes. She points directly at me and says, there's the plonker.ker yeah what is the origin of plonker so nothing to do with plonk as in cheap wine that's that's a basically a bastardization of van Blom van Blom plonk as it was cheap cheap white wine plonker was a penis so we have a great tradition of comparing particularly when it comes to men being slightly foolish or annoying or contemptible indeed. Oh, as in what a dick. What a dick. What a

plonker. I'm getting it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. So that's the plonker. What about nincompoop? Because my wife often says to me what a nincompoop. Yeah. Again, jury's out. We're not completely sure you you always think it's from non-compos mentis don't you yeah no proof for that at all that it would totally make

sense but we think it's some kind of riff on poop meaning sort of something worthless it's got a very pleasing sound and can poop but that's where we think that one comes from and then wally do you remember the story of the wally wally well this is one where i really hope it is true and A'r stori o'r Wally? Wel, dyma un lle rwy'n gobeithio ei fod yn wir. Ac mae'n debyg ei fod wedi cael ei gyflwyno o hyd yn oed yn ymwneud â'r cwmnt pop o'r 1960au pan oedd rhywun yn ei alw'n dweud bod Wally wedi mynd yn anffur. Felly, drwy'r tan oedd, roedden nhw'n dweud, Wally, gadewch i ni adrodd i'r cymaint a'r cymaint. Ac fe wnaeth hynny fynd yn aml, ac fe gafodd y cymaint i'r cymaint yn y cwmnt. Mae rhai pobl yn ei gael fel gêm ffutbol, ond rwy'n credu ei fod yn cwmnt. that it was then picked up by all the people at the concert. Some people have it as a football game, but I think it was a concert.

And people were picking it up, and the crowd was chanting, where's Wally, where's Wally, where's Wally? So, yeah. That's extraordinary. I know, it's great, isn't it? I love it. Do you want to give us the three more that are there? Do you want to have the break first?

Yeah, let's come back, actually. Okay, because I've got rather a treat for you during the break. A delicious, because I think you like this. I can touch your garb. You can touch mine, but I've got a lovely coffee and walnut cake with some lovely butter

icing for you and for your daughter who is here, and her friend. Yes! April Fool! I haven't got anything at all! I agree. That was a bit cheap. That was a bit cheap. I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray.

And I'm Leah President. And this is Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. We are a new show breaking down the anime news, views, and shows you care about each and every week. I can't think of a better studio to bring something like this to life. Yeah, I agree. We're covering all the classics. If I don't know a lot about Godzilla, which I do, but I'm trying to pretend that I don't. Hold it in.

And our current faves. Luffy must have his due. Tune in every week for the latest anime updates and possibly a few debates. I remember, what was that? Say what you're going to say and I'll circle back. You can listen to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect every Friday wherever you get your podcasts. And watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. Hi, I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson, host of the podcast Dinners On Me.

I take some of my favorite people out to dinner, including, yes, my Modern Family co-stars, like Ed O'Neill, who had limited prospects outside of acting. The only thing that I had

that I could have done was organize crime. And Sofia Vergara, my very glamorous stepmom. Well, how do you want to be comfortable? Or Julie Bowen, who had very special talents. I used to be the special talents. Or my TV daughter, Aubrey Anderson

Emmons, who did her fair share of child stunts. You can listen to Dinners on Me wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. We're talking about words for fools. And your list included a word that I'd come across, but I, a niddycock. What is a niddycock? A niddycock is, well, we were talking about plonkers before the break. So again, you have the same anatomical reference, really. But it was a riff in the 16th century on a niddyot. A niddyot, which I love because it sounds really modern, but an idiot was somebody simply who was idiotic with knobs on, you see I've done it again,

with bells on. So an idiot was a complete and utter idiot and niddy cock was the niddy bit and then there's sort of you know the penis reference again. And you had a noddy pole as well which is another part of the body do you remember the pole the pole as in poltroon uh no as in deed pole as in pole tax do you remember what that no so the pole is uh an old dialect word for the head so a pole tax was like a sort of oh yes yeah almost like a tax per head count, if you like. And a tadpole is a toad head because it looks almost as though it's just a toad and nothing else.

A head of a toad and nothing else. So that's linked to... And Noddy comes from nodding. Simple as that. Yeah. I love nodding. Noddy was, for me, my role model, really. Noddy and Big Ears.

Noddy and Big Ears. They were a lovely double act, weren't they? Yeah, they really were. Well done, Enid Blyton, creating that innocent world. Oh, I love The Faraway Tree. Was that one of your favourites? I loved all Enid Blyton, but like so many of my generation, she was banned from school.

But I had a black market at the... You know, I said I was a librarian. I had a few under-the-table transactions with transactions with Enid Light and just for a little while. I'll tell you what I'm doing at the moment. And I do recommend this because the world is very grim. And I think it's not a good thing to watch the television news late at night. I'm going to bed and I'm rereading my childhood favorites. And I was born on the 8th of March. I've recently had a birthday. And the same day as Kenneth Graham, the person who wrote Wind in the Willows.

Yeah. And if you want comfort reading that's beautifully written and evokes a wonderful world, the world of mole, ratty, badger, toad, marvellous, go back to Wind in the Willows. So if you had a childhood favourite, whatever it might be, go back to it

now. And if you haven't yet read The Faraway Tree, what a treat you're into. Yeah, that's very true. So should we finish off Fools? I found a fantastic quote from 1668, which is in fact I think one of the first references to Nink and Poop, which we discussed before the break. And it talks about the

ship of fools. So it says, The ship of fools, fully fraught and richly laden with asses,daws ninny hammers coxcombs slender wits shallow brains paper skulls simpletons nick and poops wise acres dunces and blockheads when's that what's that great 1668 1668 and almost the majority of those words are still in current use. I know. It's fantastic. I'm like Paper Skull.

Repeat the lines to us again. Okay. The ship of fools is fully fraught and richly laden with asses, fools, jackdaws, ninnyhammers, coxcombs, slenderwits, shallow brains, paper skulls, simpletons, nick-and-poops, wiseacres, dances, and blockheads. Here is our audience. Now I'm joking but isn't it The Ship of Fools?

What a wonderful concept. I know. Who wrote that? Do we know where that comes from? It is a story from 1668 describing The Ship of Fools which was quite a popular trope but talking about our fantastic audience I think we need to give enough time for their questions and we'll start off with one question

that was sent in to us, purpleatsomethingelse.com, because it's kind of linked to the idea of fools. And it's from Angie McCormick. And would you want to read it out? It says, Hi, Susie and Giles.

A friend and I recently came across the excellent German word... Backpfeifengesicht. You say the German word, do you? Backpfeifengesicht. Backpfeifen. Pfeifen. Pfeifen gizicht buck pfeifen pfeifen pf pf pfeifen buck pfeifen gizicht yeah meaning someone who looks like they need a slap in the face yeah any idea where this great word comes from oh angie wonderful uh yes a buck pfeifer is simply a slap, and a gesicht means a face.

So yes, that's exactly it. I have accused Jimmy Carr of having one of these. A face in dire need of a slap. A buckpfeiffer and gesicht. It's brilliant. So thank you for that, Angie. But I know we will have many, many more questions. And we do have a roving mic, don't we? We have a roving mic. And we have here questions from the audience have already arrived, as it were. William Wallace, do you want to ask your question out loud or shall I read it for you? Oh, you can speak.

Good. William is over here. Thank you. Mint. The herb mint and the royal mint, is there a connection between the two? Oh, that's a good question. Mint.

Mint. Mint. No, there isn't. I'd love to say there was. So the royal mint, well, she was minting money, obviously. That goes back to, actually, the Roman goddess of money and lots of different things, Moneta. And it was in her abode that the first coins were said to be printed so that's where we get the the mint that gave us money as well more nature gave us money

and the mint the beautiful herb that is linked to German because as I always say English is a Germanic language at heart so in German we have a peppermint quite hard to say and that's where we get mint from is their mints yes so they came in two very different strands what is amazing she genuinely knows this stuff Mae'n eithaf anodd dweud hynny, ac mae'r lle rydyn ni'n cael mynd o yw eu mynd. Ie, felly, maen nhw wedi dod i ddwy ffyrdd gwahanol iawn. Beth sy'n anhygoel yw ei fod yn gwybod hyn yn unigol. Mae'n ddiddorol. Jeremy o New Malden yma. O ble ydych chi, Jeremy? Beth yw'r cwestiwn? Felly, mae hyn yn ôl i'r trafodaeth am ffwls, ac fe wnaethoch chi ddweud bod yn hyrwyddon ac

hyrwyddon. Ac rwy'n ystyried ei fod yn cofio bod y term oedr yn cael ei enw yn yr ystyr yn y brifysgol, ond nid oedd hilarious and hilarity and I seem to recall that at university the Easter term was called the Hillary term but it never struck me as being particularly hilarious no uh no although I think there was a phrase to keep to keep Hillary or to keep Hillary term that meant to kind of keep cheerful sort of slang term but that hillary i think was named after a bishop of poitiers who was called hillary so it was named after him and it was originally applied to a session in the high courts of justice before it was then applied to a university term i'm not quite sure why we revered a bishop of Poitiers from centuries ago, but that's where it comes from. So not as far as that, I mean, he may well have sort of had links in some way, his name, going back to that Latin hilaria,

but that's not why it was called Hillary Turn, much as I love the idea of festivities. The joy of this podcast is that it is listened to all over the world, and we may have somebody in Poitiers who has heard the program and can get in touch with us. It's somethingelse.com is the address. So let's now take questions from anywhere, including up in the expensive seats.

Anybody has got a question that they would like to ask, just raise a hand and microphones will come towards you. I'm very partial to gooseberry fool and rhubarb fool. Ah, good point. And I'm just wondering if there's a connection between the two words. Yes, I think it's the idea as of being full of froth. It's quite interesting because it's quite full of air,

isn't it, a gooseberry fool or whatever. But the names for slightly unappetising, originally concoctions that became puddings, Gwiswbri ffwl neu beth bynnag. Ond y enwau am ddynion sydd wedi'u chynhyrchu'n ddewis o'r blaen, a ddynion a ddod yn puddings, wedi rhoi gwasanaethau i ni am ffwlishnes. Felly, bwlderdashe, er enghraifft, sy'n golygu'n ddifrifol, mae'n ddyddiau hyn, oedd cwiswbri mor anodd o mwl gwrdd a chyl a chwech, ac weithiau, pidgin mor ddifrifol. Rwy'n golygu, pethau'n wirioneddol anodd. Ac roedd hynny'n rhoi bwlderdashe i ni. A phlwmeri oedd un arall. Phlwmeri oedd I mean really weird things and that gave us balderdash and flummery was another one flummery was similar to a gisry fool I think it was something sort of light and airy so I think

the idea is it was just full of hot air or cold air or whatever likewise the follis meaning the wind bag so what about mousse as in a chocolate mousse I'm very proud oh yeah I don't think that's got anything uh remotely negative about it You'll be pleased to hear. But mousse, where does that come from? That's French. Mousse, as in mousse, something that's bubbly and warm. Yeah, because mousse is an adjective that's applied to wine, isn't it? When you get sort of little bubbles on the surface.

I think you're right. So it's little bubbles. Yeah, I think it's little bubbles again. But that's exactly what you get in a chocolate mousse, isn't it? It's light and airy. Any more questions? Yes, in the fourth row on this side here hi um a very dear friend of mine passed away a little while ago and he always

used the term he didn't swear ever but what he would say was footle bootle oh is that actually a word or has he made it up i I think he might have made it up. But you never know. It might be one of the many, many euphemisms we have for swearing. Oh, footlebootle. Because it begins with the F probably. Yeah, could be. Des O'Connor when he was doing Countdown used to say

piddlebum and stocking tops. That was his whenever he had to retake something. Okay, let's see what the dictionary comes up with. No. It might be in the slang dictionary, but I suspect it was... Who was it? Do you remember? It was a friend of ours who's no longer with us.

Yeah, it was a lovely gentleman called Graham Gibbs, who was a historian. Yeah. And he just always used to use that word, but he reminds me so much of giles so i just thought it's a great it's a great word to ask that's very sweet of you to say that i i i note that he was of great age and is now no longer with us but uh nonetheless i take that as a compliment bless bless him oh yeah i suspect it's a it's a homemade euphemism that doesn't make it

any less legitimate um and it's quite sweet, isn't it? Fiddle, fiddle. I think it's time to get to our trio. What? No time for more questions? A quickie. A quickie. This is the gentleman who's been to one of our...

That's what Bill Fintan thought. Asked for a quickie and they brought him a quiche. It was a misunderstanding. Thank you very much. What's the difference in the word sue in terms of sue for peace or suing a person in a legal sense? I imagine it's to do with pursuit. You're suing.

You're pursuing something. Ah, yes, exactly. To sue for peace, to sue in litigation. Yes, suere, absolutely right. Latin for follow. Suere, Latin for follow. Yeah. So it is the idea of chasing someone

I suppose in the sense of suing them. I sometimes know the answers You often do but I never do when we get to our trio it's time for the trio Yes So I have come up with a word for our audience without a definition and I've asked you to submit your own Definitions and the first one I think I was asking for it, really, because it was clinch poop. Who? Clinch poop.

A clinch poop. C-L-I-N-C-H-P-O-O-P. Yes. Okay. Okay, so from Beast of the Links in St Andrews, we have a wooden device used for pinching floor joists together on ship, particularly useful on the poop deck. That makes sense.

Very good. Unfortunately, it now becomes really scatological, which I guess I was asking for. But Anne and Carol in London, I love this one. Clinch poop means attention to detail, as in anally retentive. That's very good. Oh, that is genius. That is very good. That has to win the prize. And then Vanessa indivises, I'm afraid, says, clenching during a poo to break up the thighs. Oh, no, no, no.

I know. Sam, our lovely producer here says 90% of the answers were variations on the poop theme. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I think, well, Anne and Carol, definitely, don't you reckon? Read the definition again. It's so good. Attention to detail, as in being anally retentive. Whoa, a kinch poop.

Yeah, very, very good. What is the true meaning? A person lacking in gentlemanly breeding. Oh, a kinch poop. A person lacking in gentlemanly breeding. Yes. I. Yes. A person lacking in gentlemanly breeding. Yes. I think the only alternative is far better. Okay, so the second one was Thimble Thamble.

Thimble Thamble. Thimble Thamble. So, John Goatabed. Have I pronounced that correctly? Is there somebody called John Goatabed here? I mean, this is from a medieval mystery play Oh John go to bed meet mrs. English That's fantastic

Do you know it's April fools these people have been sending us up all afternoon John go to bed in Harlow as in the tea is silent. Is it genuinely your name, sir? In Harlow, as in the tea is silent. Is it genuinely your name, sir? Yes. Oh, he said that with such kind of, yes. Okay, I'm so sorry. You've had this all your life.

Anyway, Fimble Famble. Trying to find a sewing thumb guard in a hurry. Fimble Famble. I like that. Okay, Toby Phillips in Worcestershire says, when one has imbibed, then tried walking in a forest. A Fimble Famble. Mae Toby Phillips yn Worcestershire yn dweud, Pan fydd rhywun wedi'i ddysgu, fe wnaeth hi geisio mynd yn y ffordd. Ffambol ffambol. A Sue yn Staines yn dweud,

Ffambol ffambol. Byddwch chi'n arwain bywydau. Felly, gadewch i mi ddweud wrthych chi beth yw ffambol ffambol. Mae'n amstwng llwyr. people lead. My, my. So actually, let me tell you what thimble-famble means. It's a lame excuse. A lame excuse? Yes. It's a thimble-famble. But I reckon, do you think Aborted Hanky Panky? Yes. Sue in Stains.

Thank you for that one. And I should just say, I think everyone wins... What's it called? Sue in Stains. Sue in Stains. I think there's a link somehow with the theme of the... Okay. So the Beth ei enwi? Sue in Stains. Sue in Stains. Rwy'n meddwl bod cysylltiad yn rhywbeth â'r thema o'r... Mae hynny'n dda. Iawn. Felly, y tro diwethaf oedd Mel Drop. Mel Drop. Mel Drop. Mae'r cwmpas honno o'n Kerry a Malvern. Pan fyddwch chi'n sgwato mor lawr i fyny yn ôl... Mel Drop. Sut ydych chi'n sgwato Mel Drop? M-E-L-D-R-O-P. Pan fyddw When you squat too low to be able to get back up again.

Oh, that happens to me a lot. Meldrop. OK, then it's when a presenter is replaced on bake-off. Very good. Oh, these are clever. That's from William Wallace in Gloucester. And Karen and Mark in Lincolnshire say a meldrop is the same as brewer's droop, but for girls.

Okay. The real definition is not much nicer, actually. It's a drop of mucus hanging from the nose. Oh, a meldrop. There is a word for it. Isn't that amazing? We often want to know that. That little drip on the end of the nose. We need to wrap up. We need to wrap up. We are going to wrap up, that little drip, that little drip on the end of the nose. Charles, we need to wrap up.

What? We need to wrap up? What are you going to wrap up in? We need to wrap up. We are going to wrap up in one of our tea towels. I usually end with a poem. It's a very short poem. Yes. And because it's April Fool's Day, I thought this is one I would do. It's easy enough to be pleasant when the world goes round and round, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his trousers falling down.

Thank you. Thank you, the credit. Something Rhymes with Purple is a Something Else production. It was produced by Lawrence Bassett and Harriet Wells, alongside Sam Hodges from Tilted tilted co for the live shows additional production from chris skinner jen mystery jbeal and the clinch poop himself golly Thank you.